1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to the field of downhole tools used in a subterranean wellbore. More specifically, the invention relates to a tubular downhole component (such as a sand screen, tubing, or casing) that is run in an unexpanded state through a tubing and is then expanded downhole from the tubing.
Wells that are already in existence and that are cased may intersect hydrocarbon formations that were not initially targeted and have therefore not been tapped. Many of these wells have already been completed and include a production tubing and packer as known in the field. Currently, in order to recover the hydrocarbons from the untapped formations, operators perforate the previously untapped formations and then deploy a screen, having an OD less than the existing tubing ID, and blank assembly adjacent to and extending above the untapped interval. However, this approach requires that some amount of blank pipe extends above the top perforation. In certain cases the blank pipe will then be positioned adjacent to another untapped formation and hinder future access to that formation.
More generally, operators are often faced with the need to deploy downhole tubular components through tubing and then expand such components downhole of the tubing to an expanded diameter equal to or greater than that of the tubing.
Thus, there is a continuing need to address one or more of the problems stated above.